Swiss auction house HDV (Hotel des Ventes) was established in 1978, and in 2006 acquired by Bernard Piguet – by that time an art dealer with 20 years of experience in the art market.

In September 2016 the auction house celebrated its 10th anniversary. During this period Piguet – Hotel Des Ventes has become the fastest-growing auction house in the French-speaking part of Switzerland with the turnover grown from CHF 1,2M to CHF 22M (2016). Today its team numbers 30 employees including 15 specialists. Besides traditional auctions each year in December, Bernard Piguet runs “Russian art auctions”, which have become the biggest in Switzerland.

Château de Gingins

Château d'Hauteville

Villa «Aigue-Marine»

Bernard Piguet run auctions with exceptional results at

Chateau de Gingins in 2013;

Chateau d’Hauteville in 2015;

at the villa of Molly de Balkany «Aigue-Marine» in 2017.

The 10th anniversary of the auction house was met with the new logo, new name and new website.

The website piguet.com has been technologically improved by the introduction of new functions, such as the opportunity of direct contact with the specialist and the option of online bidding, while following the auction online at the same time.

Bernard Piguet is targeting the expansion of the international reach of the auction house:

Piguet – Hotel Des Ventes Team

«Due to the growing number of international buyers at auctions, the name “Hotel des Ventes” is no longer suitable. Our new name and logo should allow us to be more understandable in English. The website address is also changed from hoteldesventes.ch to piguet.com»

emphasizes Bernard Piguet.

Although the auction house of Mr. Piguet seeks modernisation and development, Mr. Piguet does not forget the values, which provided him strong reputation: the development of his auction house is more an evolution rather than a radical change.

At Piguet – Hotel des Ventes all lots with the estimate higher than 2000 CHF are checked with The Art Loss Register.

Auctioneer Bernard Piguet

Auctioneer Bernard Piguet

Bernard Piguet had a dreamt of becoming an auctioneer since his childhood. In the beginning of his career Mr. Piguet received experience working with the law firm, after which he graduated with business degree from HEC Lausanne, and later studied at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. For six years Mr. Piguet worked at jewellery department of Sotheby’s in Geneva. Having accumulated all the experience, he decided to create his own auction house according to the business plan of the present auction house Piguet – Hotel des Ventes.

Bernard Piguet is a grandson of the founder of Banque Piguet & Cie SA, which had existed since 1856, and now is a part of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. He is also related to the famous Paris-based fashion designer Robert Piguet, who was a mentor for Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain and Hubert de Givenchy.

12-15 March 2018 spring auction to be held at Piguet – Hotel des Ventes in Geneva, Switzerland. The portrait of legendary Edmonde Guy by Kees van Dongen to be offered at auction together with the paintings of Swiss painters, modern and contemporary artwork.
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Letters, postcards and photographs of Olga Alexandrovna Romanova and Xenia Alexandrovna Romanova from the collection of Ferdinand Thormeyer to be offered at auction at Piguet – Hotel des Ventes 11-14 December 2017.
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